Microsoft Falsely Uses "Angry Birds" Image

Through one way or another, everyone seems to have heard of Angry Birds- an addicting app for the iPhone, as well as numerous other phones, that has sold over 6.5 million copies, making it the prime example of an app success story.

Angry Birds gained further attention when recent promotional images for the Windows Phone 7 showed an icon of the game, leading viewers to believe Microsoft's smart phones would now have the app.

In a Twitter post, however, Angry Birds developer Rovio Mobile denied the claim.

"We have NOT committed to doing a Windows Phone 7 version. Microsoft put the Angry Birds icon on their site without our permission," the company said.

Microsoft later admitted that it had made a mistake, saying that the Angry Birds application was accidentally included on the website.

This is an obvious case of Microsoft jumping the gun with a promotional add. Microsoft may have been making arrangements with Rovio for the use of its app, but I think that it's safe to say that any agreement is now off.

Rovio is- to say the least- angry. And, it should be. The image of Angry Birds belongs to Rovio, and the fact that Microsoft used it without Rovio's permission is wrong.

Yet Microsoft fans shouldn't give up hope just yet. Rovio said in later tweets that "

We could do a WP7 version of Angry Birds, not the issue. We have not agreed to do that (yet). Will support all relevant platforms.”

I think that if Rovio is smart, it will work with Microsoft. The company will make big bucks if it expands its market to Microsoft users.

Furthermore, Microsoft should play a little nicer with Rovio and other developers if it want Angry Birds and other must-have apps that smart phone users now crave.